Tamarac girls run past Hoosic Valley

clums corners >> The Tamarac girls basketball team likes to run and on Friday night, the Bengals ran; a lot.

Tamarac used a combination of speed and an aggressive full-court press defense to grab a 57-42 victory over Wasaren League rival Hoosic Valley. The victory also secures at least part of the Wasaren League championship for the Bengals for the second straight season.

“They’re a great defensive team,” Tamrac coach Eric Medved said of Hoosic Valley. “So, for us, we had to match that intensity and even exceed it. The kids stayed focused.”

The Bengals set the tone from the opening tip, going on a 10-point run to open the game.

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Within the first few minutes, senior point guard Jenna Erickson already had a pair of steals and two assists to forward Adiya Henderson. The Bengals had prepared for the intensity of the matchup and they were more than ready to make sure that preparation translated to their performance in the game.

“We study the team so well and we’ve played them for so many years, that’s how I think we start out so well,” Henderson, who racked up a team-high 19 points as well as six blocks, said. “Then we pretty much build off of that. I think that’s a big part of it.”

While the Bengals were bringing the defensive pressure from every angle, utilizing a 1-2-2 full-court press, Hoosic Valley was having a hard time even putting the ball in the hoop.

Shots were consistently rimming out and the Indians were unable to get any solid looks with Tamarac players consistently swarming them, even in the half court.

“I don’t think we lost their shooters all night,” Medved said. “That was the big focus of what we were trying to do because they can really shoot.”

Despite building a six point lead after the game’s opening eight minutes, it wasn’t until the second quarter that the Bengals truly took complete control.

Tamarac did not give up a single field goal from Hoosic Valley during the entire second quarter and the Indians’ only points in those eight minutes came off of four free throws from Lauren Madigan. In fact, during the entire first half, the Indians sank just two jump shots, going 2-for-27 from the field.

The defensive stand helped Tamarac jump out to a 31-to-13 lead at the half and gave the Bengals a major boost of confidence at the break.

“We got in the locker room and we said this is the time we need to push forward,” Erickson, who finished the game with 17 points and five assists, said. “This is the time we need to get it done. We can’t let it go.”

Tamarac continued to control the tempo of the game early in the second half, taking the Indians out of their comfort zone and forcing the Valley to try and move the ball quickly without any sort of set play.

“We knew that that’s the kind of team that wants to run offense and run patient sets,” Medved said. “That’s not really our style. So we wanted to try and put up. We’re an offensive team but we also like to press. So we’re trying to be multi-dimensional and dangerous.”

But as the Bengals continued to extend their lead throughout the third and into the early fourth quarter, consistently pressuring and moving the ball quickly up and down the court, the intensity of the game itself grew as well.

Both Erickson and Henderson fouled of the game within a minute and a half of each other midway through the fourth quarter and Hoosic Valley coach Walter Dorman was ejected from the game after receiving two technical fouls with just under three minutes left in regulation.

“We talked about it all week because we knew that we were going to come in here and get a lot of talk,” Erickson said of the late-game dramatics. “We definitely kept our composure. I know I fouled out and Adyia fouled out, but our team really stepped up for us.”

While there was certainly an extra bit of intensity in the game, the Bengals still saw production from almost the entire roster, with eight different players putting points on the board.

The across-the-board effort is a major momentum boost for Tamarac heading into the final stretch of the regular season, giving the Bengals that extra push as they prepare to take on a tough Class B in the Section II tournament.

“We knew it was going to be a war,” Medved said. “I’m gushing because when you can play ten players and every single one of those players is playing huge. That’s amazing. I’m so proud of my team.”